Toledo District - Channel 5 Belize

Dennis “Desho” Williams Did Not Convince Voters in Toledo East

Opposition Leader Barrow went on to explain that he funded the U.D.P. candidate’s entire campaign from his personal coffers. On the other hand, there are suggestions that Williams did not present himself as a candidate prepared to win the by-election. Unlike his opponent, Williams was not easily accessible to the media. Some may argue that he was not even accessible to voters. He was either too busy running errands or avoiding the spotlight. Today, Barrow revealed that while he and Williams now share a close friendship, he initially supported former P.G Mayor Ashton Mckenzie to run in Toledo East. He contended that it was Patrick Faber and John Saldivar who thrusted Williams into the position.

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“I did everything. I spent every dollar, every dollar. You know, when I reached out to donors they said, you know, Shyne general elections we coming big, but by-election, how are you going to ask us for by election money and that’s a P.U.P. seat? That seat was won during Dean Barrow’s time. So, I said, okay, no problem. And I took a significant amount of the reserves that I have. And I made it available to the candidate and to the team. That is my personal fortune. And that is my responsibility to make sure that every dollar is provided and then there’s accountability for the dollars. And I did that, and the rest was up to the candidate and the campaign manager Cranka Polonio who’s very popular there as he was a candidate that we fielded for the municipals. So, I gave everybody what they needed because then I don’t want to be accused of taking over and doing things my way. Whatever finance was asked for, the finance was provided. But let me say it again so that you understand, you know, brother Desho is a friend and a brother, and you know all he has to do is learn from this. Pick himself up, look in the mirror and see everything that went wrong. And if he feels that he has an opportunity there, he’ll keep working and keep going because the pendulum swings. The candidate has to be able to convince the people that he is the person that they want. The candidate was elected in an endorsement convention. The application process was open. And then let me tell you this. You want to talk about the candidate? It was John Saldivar and Patrick Farber that came together to put that candidate there as caretaker. That is my friend and brother. No, so I am not distancing myself from him, but I’m just telling you everybody wants to criticize the candidate and throw the candidate under the bus now. When I was supporting Ashton Mckenzie we went to a constituency meeting and John Saldivar and Patrick Farber came together and they elected brother Desho.”

P.U.P. Prepares for Toledo East By-election

Tonight, all eyes are on Toledo East where the two mass parties, as well as a third-party candidate, are preparing for Wednesday’s by-election to determine the next area representative for that constituency. The People’s United Party, since choosing Doctor Osmond Martinez as standard bearer, has been campaigning diligently across all twenty-one villages, and Punta Gorda Town, that make up Toledo East. Earlier today, we spoke by phone with Doctor Martinez who was in the remote village of Machakilha about his campaign efforts leading up to tomorrow’s political showdown.

On the phone: Dr. Osmond Martinez, P.U.P. Standard Bearer, Toledo East

“We’ve been working, you know, towards July seventeenth and we are a few hours away from opening the polls, less than twenty-four hours, and we are excited. My team is excited, we are looking forward to just getting out there and cast the votes tomorrow morning, at seven in the morning.”

Isani Cayetano

“Do you believe that given the time that you’ve had to campaign, that you’ve perhaps reached every community that you’ve needed to reach within the Toledo East constituency?”

Osmond Martinez

“I have. I have been in all the communities, the twenty-one communities and one town and I have had the privilege to visit all the communities and the town. You know, one of our challenges is that people want to see us and continue to invite us to their homes and the time is short, but we are doing all our best and we will be visiting people up to six in the morning.”

Isani Cayetano

“What has the reception been in terms of the people that you’ve met on the ground and listening to some of their needs?”

Osmond Martinez

“Well the reception is excellent, you know, and it’s a testimony to what can or where we have seen that the reception is excellent is the response of the people during the Nomination Day. During the Nomination Day we had the largest crowd on Nomination Day and that was the largest of Toledo’s political history, not only Toledo East or Toledo West, where much of the or historically on Nomination Day you would have both constituencies.”

Osmond Martinez is Confident in Delivering Toledo East

Having covered as much ground as is necessary to secure his votes, Doctor Martinez is confident that he can deliver the constituency for the ruling party. According to the former C.E.O. turned politician, the results of the recent P.U.P. convention that saw him emerge victorious as standard bearer is an indication of his popularity in Toledo East.

Isani Cayetano

“How confident are you given the work that you’ve done, in terms of canvassing the constituency, going into tomorrow’s by-elections?”

On the Phone: Osmond Martinez, P.U.P. Standard Bearer, Toledo East

“I am very confident and I will give you the historical data so that it can help you to understand why I am confident and this is empirical data. So, for example, in 2020, the U.D.P. candidate received about one thousand, seven hundred and twenty-one votes. During the convention, you know, which was more an internal party convention, it was an internal party convention, I received one thousand, seven hundred and sixty-two votes which means that during the convention I received more votes than what the U.D.P. candidate received in the 2020 general elections. So that on its own speaks for itself, you know, and the confidence and the timing is very important. Since the P.U.P. is the central government, it’s the government right now, the administration that is running the government, it makes it a little bit more viable for me, or much more viable because the people are asking the questions that the citizens are asking, or the residents of Toledo East are asking the opponents, you know, the other candidates. What will you do for us? And so, timing is important.”

P.U.P. Party Leader Join Dr. Osmond Martinez in Toledo East

So, we just heard from the P.U.P.’s Toledo East candidate, Doctor Osmond Martinez. We now turn to Prime Minister John Briceño, the leader of the People’s United Party. He is in Toledo East tonight alongside Martinez. We spoke with P.M. Briceño about the party’s level of preparedness going into tomorrow. Here is what he told us.

On the Phone: Prime Minister John Briceño

“I have every confidence in Osmond’s campaign team. They have been very thorough in their organization. They have been organizing right up to the smallest detail. They have been not only to Bella Vista and Punta Gorda but also to the smaller villages to ensure that we can take out all of our voters and get out people to the poll. That is what is important. Tomorrow is to get our people to come out and vote for us. I have every confidence that the level of organization we will have in place can ensure that we will have a victory tomorrow.”

Paul Lopez

“There has been a bit of smear campaign or personal attacks against Dr. Martinez, how do you see these things affecting his chances tomorrow, specifically where his nationality is concerns and I know the opposition heralded on a statement he made on a morning show concerning the BDF.”

On the Phone: Prime Minister John Briceño

“Again, that shows how desperate the U.D.P. is. They are trying to create an issue where none exist. Everybody know Osmond Martinez is a Belizean. He has one passport. He has one country. He has always considered himself one hundred percent Belizean. So when you have nothing good to say about your candidate then you try to do a smear campaign about your opponent and that has always been the way the UDP has operated. I am not surprised. We are running a positive campaign, one of how Osmond Martinez can continue to build on the work of the late Mike Espat, on the work of the P.U.P. government, the work we have been doing since November 2020.”

U.D.P. Flexes Political Muscle in Toledo East

In Punta Gorda campaigning along with U.D.P. Standard Bearer Dennis ‘Desho’ Williams is Party Leader Shyne Barrow. We were unable to speak with Williams today, as he was out of the service area campaigning. We got a word with the Leader of the Opposition who says that there has been a seismic shift in Toledo East where the U.D.P. has gained significant grounds since the November 2020 general elections.

Shyne Barrow, Party Leader, U.D.P.

“We have been working for the last eleven weeks. We are fortunate that we had the upper hand because the People’s United Party did not have their candidate until they had a convention. And so, we had at least another thirty days head start to get the work done and, fortunately, Desho Williams has been in the constituency his entire life, but has been here as the caretaker, then standard bearer for the last three and a half years. So he has done the groundwork, the people know him, the people like him very much and the people are prepared to give him a chance; U.D.P.s and P.U.P.s, because I can tell you that the People‘s United Party is extremely unpopular. So things have made a dramatic shift here in PG Town since the 2020 general elections where we lost by a thousand and in the 2021 municipal elections where even the independent mayoral candidate got votes than us. So we’ve come quite a long distance and we expect that tomorrow that will culminate with Desho Williams becoming the next area representative for Toledo East.”

Shyne Barrow Says P.U.P. has Abandoned Toledo East

According to Party Leader Barrow, the primary concern of residents in Toledo East is the ever-increasing cost of living. He also spoke on the abandonment of Toledo District under the present Briceño administration.

Shyne Barrow, Party Leader, U.D.P.

“You know, today we were eating in the restaurant and, you know, I asked for onion sauce and they said, “There’s no way we could afford onion sauce because the price of habanero has increased exponentially. The price of bread, the price of rice, the price of chicken, the price of beef, sugar which is a controlled price, you know, is being sold above the controlled price. That is the centerpiece of the complaints that we hear. We also hear about a government that lacks compassion and lacks a social tenets upon which the People’s United Party was built during the George Price era. When you hear Osmond Martinez say, over and repeatedly, that Toledo East has been abandoned and Toledo East has been neglected and Toledo East is the dark ages, that is an indictment of his People’s United Party government that has been there for the last three and a half years. That is an indictment of him as C.E.O. in the office of the Prime Minister, controlling a billion dollars, having done nothing for the people of Toledo East and that’s what you hear them saying. And in the other half of it, you hear them saying that this is an ungrateful party, the People’s United Party, they are ungrateful. They use you and they throw you away and they look at what they did to Mike Espat, some think they drove him to an early grave. Some feel that they totally used and abused the family and threw away Melhelm Espat. So you have U.D.P.s and P.U.P.s united.”

5-Year-Old Died in RTA on His Birthday, Along with Two Family Members

On Friday night, tragedy struck the Tush family of Aguacate Village, while they were on the Southern Highway returning home from a night of celebrating a child’s birthday. Twelve family members left the village that evening inside a Toyota pickup truck and made their way to Punta Gorda Town for dinner to celebrate Michael Tush’s fifth birthday. On their way back, the pickup truck driven by fifty-one-year-old Jose Tush collided into a Ford F- 350. Forty-Three-Year-Old Emilio Lizama was driving that vehicle. Upon impact, the passengers of the Toyota were violently flung from the pickup. At the time there were seven minors, including one teenager and four adults, inside. Unfortunately, three people succumbed to injuries sustained from the collision. They are fifty-one-year-old Jose Tush, his daughter seventeen-year-old Renita Tush and five-year-old Michael Tush whose birthday the family was celebrating. We spoke with one family member over the phone about the tragedy.

On the Phone: Primo Tush, Relative of Deceased

“They were heading from Punta Gorda, heading to Aguacate Village and when they were between Elridgeville and Jacintoville they encountered someone on a bicycle and after passing that person on the bicycle they encountered a vehicle coming in the opposite direction with no light and then all of a sudden the driver turned on his light and flashed it directly in front of my brother which caused brief loss of his vision and that led to him losing control of the vehicle. They live in Aguacate Village, but it was the child that died birthday. It was his birthday so they decided that as a family they would head into town for dinner and that is when this happened. So far there are still two in the hospital, one is in Punta Gorda Hospital, and one is in K.H.M.H. in a very critical condition.”

Reporter

“How old is that at K.H.M.H.?”

On the Phone: Primo Tush

“The one at K.H.M.H. is six years old. When I got the message, I was very heartbroken. I was not expecting it because the last time I spoke with my brother was like two days ago. He asked me to come home, please come home and that is what ran through my mind. He asks me to come home and it is very heartbreaking. Of course we want justice for my brother and the minor and teenager that passed away. We need good investigation to get to the bottom of this. Losing three family members is not something easy. It is very hard and my sister-in-law is still in shock right now and we are trying to come together to come together and support each other. So, we are asking the relevant authority to look into this matter seriously and we are asking them to please assist us in speeding up the postmortem examination so that we can lay my brother and nephew and niece to rest in peace.”

Anyone wishing to assist the Tush family with mounting medical expenses can contact them at six, two, nine, eight, six, three, two.

Police Investigating Weekend Fatal RTA in Toledo

We also heard from Assistant Commissioner of Police Hilberto Romero on this tragic incident. A.C.P. Romero revealed that the driver of the second vehicle remains hospitalized. Police are waiting for the survivors to be released from the hospital to probe further into what exactly transpired.

A.C.P Hilberto Romero, Regional Commander, Eastern Division

“On Friday the twelfth day of July 2024, police responded to a fatal road traffic accident between the villages of Eldridgeville and Hacintoville in the Toledo District. Upon arrival they saw a Ford 350 pickup and a Toyota pickup excessively damaged, several person’s received injuries, they were taken for treatment. Day after, police visited the hospital where Renita Tush, Jose Tush, Tyrone Tush were all pronounced dead at the Punta Gorda Hospital. Investigation is being carried out into this fatal road traffic accident. The other driver is receiving treatment at this time.”

Reporter

“And then, investigators identified maybe any weather conditions or any conditions of the road that you believe may play a part in this accident in anyway?”

Hilberto Romero

“No, at this time, statements will be recorded as several persons are injured or getting treatment at the hospital, and at the end of the investigation we’ll make a determination on what will happen next.”

Reporter

“Was It a matter of losing control or overtaking?”

Hilberto Romero

“The information is that the person was overtaking and did no make it in time and collided into the other vehicle.”

Reporter

“Are you able to say which one of the drivers that is, or which one of the vehicles?”

Hilberto Romero

“The person that was overtaking at the time was Jose Tush.”

U.D.P. Demands Apology from Osmond Martinez Over B.D.F. Comments

With only eight days left before the Toledo East by-election, all three candidates have ramped up their campaigns. The United Democratic Party has produced an advertisement demanding an apology from P.U.P. Candidate Osmond Martinez for comments he made about the Belize Defense Force on a morning show. The ad captured Martinez saying that as a child in Toledo, members of the Belize Defense Force would go into the banana fields, rape the women and ship the men off to Guatemala. Barrow also questioned Martinez’s ability to contest an election in Belize given his dual citizenship.

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“I shared with the media where he said that B.D.F. soldiers raped the women in Bella Vista and chased them to the banana farm and shift the men off to Melchor. These are reprehensible lies and the U.D.P. calls on Osmond Martinez and the People’s United Party to apologize forthwith. It is deplorable, despicable that someone who wants to serve in the National Assembly would be so desperate to reduce our patriots, the B.D.F, women and men who give of themselves, risk their lives, sacrifice their families, sacrifice so much for us, they should not be involved in our politics. If they want to attack the candidate, me the party, fine we will deal with that. That is what we signed up for. We have an issue as far as him being a dual citizen. I don’t know if any of you have asked him if he renounced his Honduran nationality. I believe that is a fair question and when you ask find him next I hope you will ask him because he will not be able to sit in the House of Representative if he is. We will do him a favor and hand him a defeat on Wednesday July seventeenth anyway. But I believe it is a fair question. And certainly this gentleman Osmond Martinez is not even from Toledo East. He is registered to vote in Caribbean Shores and lives in Caribbean Shores if he could show me a light bill or a water bill because I know they were very concerned about where I live. I have a light bill and water bill. And I had mih bed and mih fridge everything at one of my residencies located in Mesopotamia. Osmond Martinez cannot say the same. He is from Caribbean Shores. So the fact that we have a candidate the P.U.P. candidate that is not from Toledo east. He tries to create this fairytale story of growing up on the banana farms and now he is here to rescue Toledo east.”

U.D.P. Says Dennis “Desho” Is Best for Toledo East

Opposition Leader Barrow also shared why the party believes that its candidate, Dennis “Desho” Williams is the best person to represent the people of Toledo East in parliament. In essence, Barrow contends that Williams is a son of the soil.

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“Dennis “Desho” Williams is a son of the soil. He has worked, lived, his entire life in Toledo East, Punta Gorda and he has paid his dues as a campaigner, ground commander, standard bearer and hopefully now the next area rep of Toledo East. There is no mistaken his loyalty, no mistaken his commitment to Toledo East and the people in Toledo East knows him. I was blown away by how he interacted with the people in the villages as much as the people in town. He has been doing his work over the last twenty years. But certainly, as the standard bearer over the last couple years he has maintained strong relationships all throughout Toledo East. The institutional intelligence that he has as far as the needs and wants of the people can only come from someone that was there and never left. He worked for B.E.L., B.T.L., he started his own tech company. But he never left Punta Gord, Bella Vista and all the other villages. There is no one more suited to represen5t the people of Toledo East in the National Assembly than one of their own.”